[Design and validation of a questionnaire for psychosocial nursing diagnosis in Primary Care]

Abstract

Aim: To develop a valid, reliable and easy-to-use questionnaire for a psychosocial nursing diagnosis.

Method: The study was performed in two phases: first phase, questionnaire design and construction; second phase, validity and reliability tests. A bank of items was constructed using the NANDA classification as a theoretical framework. Each item was assigned a Likert scale or dichotomous response. The combination of responses to the items constituted the diagnostic rules to assign up to 28 labels. A group of experts carried out the validity test for content. Other validated scales were used as reference standards for the criterion validity tests. Forty-five nurses provided the questionnaire to the patients on three separate occasions over a period of three weeks, and the other validated scales only once to 188 randomly selected patients in Primary Care centres in Tenerife (Spain).

Results: Validity tests for construct confirmed the six dimensions of the questionnaire with 91% of total variance explained. Validity tests for criterion showed a specificity of 66%-100%, and showed high correlations with the reference scales when the questionnaire was assigning nursing diagnoses. Reliability tests showed agreement of 56%-91% (P<.001), and a 93% internal consistency. The Questionnaire for Psychosocial Nursing Diagnosis was called CdePS, and included 61 items.

Conclusions: The CdePS is a valid, reliable and easy-to-use tool in Primary Care centres to improve the assigning of a psychosocial nursing diagnosis.